'24' movie still a possibility, says Kiefer Sutherland

Though Fox is set to debut a new season of 24 on May 5, star Kiefer Sutherland says this doesn’t kill chances for a big-screen version of the long-running franchise.

“The script for the film is very different,” Sutherland told reporters Monday in Pasadena. “The film is an ongoing situation. There’s always an opportunity to do that. But Howard (Gordon) came up for 12 episode run of this and this opportunity presented to us first. It’s a fantastic idea. If this ends up causing a film to be made, so be it.”

24: Live Another Day will debut with a two-hour launch. The action picks up four years after the drama’s final season and will progress as it always did by operating in real time, though hours will be skipped it fit into the shorter season. Jack Bauer (Sutherland) remains a fugitive on a run, and CIA agent Kate Morgan (Yvonne Strahovski) is hot on his trail. “In the minds of the CIA, he’s not quite Osama bin Laden but he’s a fugitive of a high order,” explains Exec Producer Evan Katz. “We will learn he has a mission. Whether it’s good or dark we don’t know, but the CIA is determined to catch him.”

The inimitable Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) will enter the picture as a Edward Snowden-type radical who has turned against the government. “Jack and her try to stop what he is after … a secret,” Katz continued.

Other characters that will return to the reboot are Kim Raver as Jack’s former lover Audrey and William Devane, who, as James Heller, is now the president. The producers joked about not always knowing who could return because of the show’s reputation for killing off so many characters.

“Sometime we had to check Wikipedia,” said Katz. “Wouldn’t it be great if Heller was president? Turns out he lived.”

Sutherland, who remains very humble about how his name is synonymous with the franchise, said he was very anxious about starting production. (It begins in London next month). “I’m very nervous without putting ourselves out there. We made eight very strong years. There’s always something in every year that we wish we did better, but I was very proud. To open that up again and make 12 episodes and not make them the best 12 we have ever made is frightening. I’m about as anxious and wound up as I’ve been in a long time.”